Srinagar, Sept 20: Several schools affiliated to Falah-e-Aam trust, an affiliate of Jamat-e-Islami, were searched by State Investigation Agency (SIA) of J&K police in four districts of Kashmir.
According to a statement by SIA, search warrants were issued by Court of Special Judge, Designated under NIA (TADA/POTA) Srinagar in connection with investigation of case (FIR No. 17/2019) under section 10, 11, 13, UA(P) Act.
The premises searched include FAT offices Salamat Abad, Sopore, Nowgam Chowk Srinagar, one near Bus Stand, Anantnag and Main Bazar Kulgam.
“FAT in the past had been proscribed by the government, subsequent to which several litigations came to be lodged by JeI management seeking immunity against legal action. During quasi judicial proceedings preceding ban on JeI, evidence had come on record that one of the major methods of propagating its secessionist agenda had been to maintain control over a parallel school system,” the SIA claimed, adding, “Bedsides, creating such properties by encroaching government or community land, FAT, as per reports has used its connections with Hizbul Mujahideen to regularise such encroachments.”
The SIA said that it is a matter of investigation as to how many known Jamaat-e-Islami members are represented in the management and teaching faculty of these schools. “It is also to be investigated how many members of the management of the trust are known to be former office bearers of Jamaat-e-Islami,” the SIA said, adding, “The public interest aspect of the investigation lies in the fact that in several stages of the 30-year-old secessionist and (militant) campaign, Hizbul Mujahideen had burnt down several government schools across the length and breadth of the Valley.” The correlation between destroying government facilities on one hand and creating parallel private facilities where cocurricular and extracurricular programmes can be leveraged to influence young minds that are inherently in support of a long-term “secessionist” campaign and not always necessarily by picking up arms is also a matter of investigation, the SIA said. “During the searches, incriminating material including Laptops, cash books, cheque books, Land documents etc having bearing on the investigation of the case were recovered and seized,” the SIA said in the statement, adding, “Analysis of the data would follow and leads that would emerge would become the basis for further investigation.”
